By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
THE death toll of a Jeju Air flight that crashed Sunday morning in South Korea has risen to 176, according to a reliable source.
Stonix News had earlier reported that 85 persons were killed after a Boeing 737 aircraft that was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members veered off a runway while landing at Muan International Airport and caught fire after it crashed into a wall.
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Stonix News further gathered that the aircraft had taken off from Bangkok.
The official death toll, which has been provided by the National Fire Agency, has steadily climbed in the hours since the crash.
The transport ministry was on the scene investigating the cause of the crash, and details of what happened were beginning to come into focus.
Prior to the plane’s crash landing, the control tower issued a warning of a possible bird strike, the ministry said. About a minute after that warning, a pilot sent a mayday distress signal, after which the tower issued permission for the aircraft to land.
As of 1 p.m. local time, authorities said the plane had completely burned. A temporary morgue was immediately set up at the airport.
Eighty-three of the dead were women and 82 were men, official said, adding that another 11 bodies remained unidentified.
A man and a woman were rescued from the wreckage and were taken to the hospital. Both were crew members. Their conditions, as of the time of filing this report, were not released.
“We deeply apologize to all those affected by the incident at Muan Airport.
“We will make every effort to resolve the situation. We sincerely regret the distress caused,” Jeju Air said in a notice posted in English on its website.
Boeing was in contact with Jeju Air regarding the crash and was “standing ready to support them,” a Boeing spokesperson told our source.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” the spokesperson said.
Muan, a city of roughly 90,000 people, is located in southwest South Korea.
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